1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for controlling the feeder system of pump-action shotguns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In so-called pump-action guns, the breech-block closure system is actuated by means of one or two braces which are parallel to the axis of the barrel and are actuated by a manual pump-action cocking rod.
By acting on the cocking rod, the breech-block is disengaged from the breech to retract it into the position for opening the firearm; the same movement also actuates the lever (or levers) for retaining the cartridge in the tubular magazine located below the barrel coaxially to the cocking rod. The breech-block, during the first step of its return to the closure position, also actuates the rising block, in a conventional manner, to allow to insert the cartridge that has left the magazine into the barrel.
Accordingly, in order to achieve the transfer of the cartridge from the magazine to the firing chamber of the barrel, the retrograde opening stroke of the breech-block assembly of the firearm is utilized in order to synchronize the movements of the lever (or levers) for retaining the cartridge in the magazine, for the exit of a single cartridge at a time, with the movements of the rising block, on which the cartridge that leaves the magazine arranges itself to be subsequently lifted into a position which is suitable for insertion in the barrel.
The operation of the feeder system of conventional pump-action shotguns is reliable and substantially perfect, but it has some operating limitations. When one wishes to unload the firearm, removing the cartridge from the barrel, it is in fact necessary to operate the braces by means of the manual pump-action cocking rod. This necessarily causes a cartridge to move from the magazine onto the rising block. Accordingly, it is not possible to unload the cartridges from the magazine without making them fall one by one onto the rising block: in order to unload the firearm it is therefore necessary to act on the pump repeatedly as many times as there are cartridges in the magazine.
It is also not possible to fire without using the cartridges that are present in the magazine. This limitation is evident when it is necessary, in particular situations, to use a cartridge of a different type than the cartridges that are present in the magazine.
The aim of the present invention is to obviate the above mentioned drawbacks of conventional pump-action shotguns.
An object of the invention is to provide a device for controlling the pump-action mechanism of a firearm which allows to unload the firearm by removing the cartridge in the barrel without making a new cartridge fall onto the rising block from the magazine.
A further object of the invention is to provide a device which allows to fire a series of shots without using the cartridges in the magazine but by manually inserting the cartridge in the barrel for each shot.
A further object of the invention is to provide a device which has a simple construction and is reliable in use.